International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day, Theresa May has urged people to speak out against abuse of women and girls in a video released to coincide with International Women’s Day. The home secretary’s comments come as figures from the charity Citizens Advice suggest that cases of domestic violence are disturbingly common. The charity said it received reports of attacks from 13,500 people in 2012, 80% of which came from women.

“I’m very pleased to be recognising International Women’s Day, a day that celebrates the achievements of women across the world,” said May. “But as we celebrate women’s achievements, we must also think of the problems that women sadly face all too often in the UK and in other countries across the world.

“I’m thinking particularly of issues like violence against women and girls, domestic violence and abuse that takes place outside of the home.”

International Women’s Day – which was acknowledged on Friday with a Google Doodle – is an annual occasion marked with thousands of events around the world held to inspire women and celebrate achievements. It began in the early 20th century.

May called for people to speak out and said that government moves to stop violence against women could “only do so much”.

“We need to change attitudes,” she said. “We can only change attitudes by working together. Government will do its bit but I want you all to do your bit too. So speak out, stand up against violence against women and girls and that’s the way we can eradicate it.”

Activists and anti-austerity campaigners are also planning to use International Women’s Day to demonstrate against the disproportionate impact they believe government cuts are having on women.

The demonstration has been organised by Reclaim It, a coalition of feminists and activists from UK Uncut, Occupy and Disabled People Against Cuts, which has been specifically formed to take direct action on International Women’s Day.

Happy International Women

Happy International Women, International Women’s Day this year is a mix of issues. The media image of women is primitive, backward, and insulting. It’s also a natural product of media, and that’s the problem.
This is a subject I literally bumped into. I didn’t even know it was International Women’s Day. I happened to see an article.
Sam Brett of the Sydney Morning Herald chose to commemorate IWD with a column looking at the image of women, and a pretty apt choice of subjects she found. After commenting on Limbaugh’s recent rich geriatric peasant droolings, she took a look at the image of women, and it’s not a pretty picture:
In an article in the Weekly Standard, journalist Charlotte Allen insinuated that women these days actually enjoy it when men “drag [them] by the hair into their caves” and asserts “there’s currently a buyer’s market in women who are up for just about anything with the right kind of cad.” Ahem.
Sam Brett is a bit young to recognize the psych angle here because she wasn’t born when this type of phraseology was invented.

Typical media psych still works on the public as it was in about 1960, and still uses caveman analogies. The public are idiots, “Just add the slang and keep saying the same old things, tee-hee, aren’t we clever?” These writers are hacks trained by hacks, and it shows.
Her point is valid enough. The image-abuse of the modern female is as backward, and as pointless, as ever. This is 51% of the human race we’re talking about.
Brett also mentions, very aptly, the PR take on younger women. She found this briquette among the diamonds:
Over the past weekend, a survey carried out by Westpac told us that, after polling 900 women, it was found that all Gen Y ch**ks want is a “wealthy man” and a “ritzy wedding”, and they won’t settle down until they get exactly that.